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- Waterways transportation saves billions each year
--- XT: Waterways Key to EconomyFailure of lock and dams will crush the economy --- no other quick or suitable replacementPeabody, 12 – Major General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (4/18/2012, John Peabody, “HOW RELIABILITY OF THE INLAND WATERWAY SYSTEM IMPACTS ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS”, http://transportation.house.gov/news/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1609) Americans can and should be proud to have the most extensive and one of the best performing and most reliable public works infrastructure in the world. But like everything built by man, infrastructure has limits to its useful life, and it requires constant maintenance and periodic renewal. These continuous investments are essential if we are to ensure the reliability of our infrastructure investments. Infrastructure must be properly maintained to ensure and extend its useful life. It must be periodically rehabilitated when it begins to wear out and deteriorate. When it is no longer viable to rehabilitate it or economical to maintain it, it must be recapitalized, repurposed, or removed, based on the return to the nation. Specifically with regard to inland waterways, the Corps has a portfolio of 221 locks with an average age of 60 years. They have performed well, but many of them are showing obvious signs of wear and tear. In a select few cases, the condition of a lock or dam has deteriorated to a point that catastrophic failure is a real possibility. In all such cases with which I am familiar, there is an active construction project to replace or remediate the project. Catastrophic failure of a lock or dam at a high-volume point along one of the major waterways would have significant economic consequences because other transportation modes generally lack the capacity to either quickly or fully accommodate the large volume of cargo moved on the inland waterways. Therefore, cost and congestion of other modes (mostly rail) could be greatly affected and some cargoes may be delayed for extended periods. For example, the Corps extended a planned 18 day closure at Greenup Locks in 2006 when extensive deterioration of the miter gates was discovered. This lengthy, unplanned delay cost shippers over $40 million and several utilities came within days of having to shut down due to exhausted supplies of coal. The Army Corps of Engineers is focused on maintaining the key features of our existing infrastructure to avoid such a catastrophic failure. We are also monitoring the system’s condition via periodic inspections, in order to identify and address any significant decline in its efficiency or reliability. Our increased monitoring efforts over the past decade illustrate that there has been a recent increase in the number of unscheduled lock outages and the Corps will continue its efforts to attack this trend. In particular, the Corps measures performance based on the total number per year of one-day and seven-day closures due to mechanical failures of main lock chambers on the high and moderate use inland waterways. Inland waterways are key to delivering goods to manufacturers that is essential to economic growth --- a national focus is necessaryNAM, 12 (National association of Manufacturers, The National Association of Manufacturers, NAM, is the top manufacturing association in the United States “Inland Waterway Infrastructure” http://www.nam.org/Issues/Infrastructure/Water-Infrastructure.aspx) DG America’s inland waterways move approximately 20 percent of the coal for utility plants, 22 percent of domestic petroleum products and over 50 percent of the nation’s grain and oilseed. Manufacturers rely on our system of inland and coastal waterways to efficiently move freight. The viability of our nation’s waterway system is seriously challenged by aging locks and decades-old infrastructure. These problems result in major delays that significantly raise costs and hamper the ability of manufacturers to grow their businesses and create jobs. The NAM supports funding inland waterways at levels authorized by Congress and believes a 20-year capital plan should guide future investments and improve project delivery. We also advocate new financing approaches and a strengthened partnership between waterway users and the Army Corps of Engineers. A national focus on the nation’s inland waterway system will ensure the viability of the waterways as a cost-effective and efficient means of moving goods. Failure to modernize federal navigation channels creates bottlenecks regardless of port modernization- that crushes economic benefitsEllis, 6-18-12, Aaron, American Association of Port Authorities “U.S. Seaports, Private-Sector Partners Plan to Invest $46 Billion By 2017 in Port Infrastructure Lack of parallel state & federal investment in intermodal connections hamper job creation, efficiency benefits,” http://www.aapa-ports.org/Press/PRdetail.cfm?itemnumber=18583, KHaze While port authorities and their business partners are making major investments into port facilities, studies show the intermodal links—such as roads, bridges, tunnels and federal navigation channels—to access these facilities get scant attention by state and federal agencies responsible for their upkeep, resulting in traffic bottlenecks that increase product costs and hamper job growth. To help remedy these problems, AAPA continues to advocate for a national freight infrastructure strategy and for the U.S. Congress to quickly pass a reauthorized multi-year transportation bill that targets federal dollars toward economically strategic freight transportation infrastructure of national and regional significance. “Infrastructure investments in America’s ports and their intermodal connections – both on the land and waterside – are in our nation’s best interest because they provide opportunities to bolster our economic and employment recovery, help sustain long term prosperity, and pay annual dividends through the generation of more than $200 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue and more than $22 billion in Customs duties,” said Kurt Nagle, AAPA president and CEO. “From a jobs standpoint, America’s seaports support the employment of more than 13 million U.S. workers and create 15,000 domestic jobs for every $1 billion in manufactured goods that U.S. businesses export.” According to economist John C. Martin, Ph.D., president of Lancaster, Pa.-based Martin Associates, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis formulas show that investing $46 billion in infrastructure at U.S. ports creates more than 500,000 direct, indirect and induced domestic jobs, accounting for more than 1 billion person-hours of work. “Those are really significant job numbers,” emphasized Dr. Martin. “From a dollars-and-cents perspective, it’s hard to over-emphasize the value of investing in ports, particularly when you factor in how much these investments help lower the cost of imports and make our exports more competitive overseas.” Mr. Nagle added that, despite substantial investments by port authorities and their private-sector business partners, inadequate infrastructure connecting ports to landside transportation networks and water-side shipping lanes often creates bottlenecks, resulting in congestion, productivity losses and a global economic disadvantage for America. “These congestion issues and productivity losses have the potential to stymie America’s ability to compete internationally and to create and sustain jobs,” he said. Waterways transportation saves billions each yearBray, 11 --- Center for Transportation Research, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (9/21/2011, Larry G., Congressional Documents and Publications, House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Hearing - "The Economic Importance and Financial Challenges of Recapitalizing the Nation's Inland Waterways Transportation System,” Factiva, JMP) Summarizing the Current Economic Value of Inland Waterway Commerce The use of inland waterways to support freight transportation saves shippers (and their customers) billions of dollars annually. Moreover, in some cases, the freight that moves by water cannot be moved any other way. In these cases, the value of available barge transportation is literally incalculable. Beyond these seemingly obvious benefits, inland navigation also provides competition that helps discipline railroad pricing. This, in turn, diminishes the need for federal railroad oversight. Next, increased reliance on barge transportation reduces the incidence of most negative externalities, thereby, providing uncounted benefits to populations that are exposed to fewer of the "bads" commonly associated with moving freight. Finally, maintaining a navigable waterway channel makes waterways more useful for other purposes. Many, perhaps even most, of these other beneficiaries do pay for this benefit, but their required contributions would almost certainly increase in the absence of waterborne commerce. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. 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